Wednesday, January 16, 2008

The following can be viewed on any high-speed computer anywhere or on TV in Manhattan:

Today, Wednesday, January 16 at 7:30 PM, on my shoestring cable show Famousx2, on channel 67, I am re-airing the first of two 29-minute programs of interviews I did with Dr. Aaron Moss- Socialist, hippie, hypnotist and founder of dental hypno-anesthesiology- in 2001, when he was 92 years old on Manhattan Neighborhood Network. Dr. Moss was a fixture at political meetings and demonstrations for decades, so you may recognize him if you don't know him already.

Aaron died last month at the age of 98! See our mutual friend Rick Hill's notice about him below. Aaron will be missed by many of all ages.

Dr. Moss, who was raised in Newark New Jersey, talks about how that town was a center of progressivism and radicalism in the first half of the 20th century. He talks about coming from a very dysfunctional Polish-Jewish immigrant family and how he discovered Communism. He details the kind of primitive equipment used in dentistry in the 1930s, when he began his practice, from which he retired almost 40 years ago. He discusses the techniques he developed to introduce hypnosis into the field of dental anesthesiology. He discusses some of his philosophy of life, which kept him physically and emotionally healthy into his late 90s.

If you are in Manhattan and have access to Time Warner, you can see it today, Wednesday, at 7:30 PM (EST-that's NYC Eastern Standard Time) on channel 67. On the RCN system, that should be channel 85.

If you are outside of Manhattan, anywhere in the world, and you have a decenthigh-speed connection on your computer, you can go to mmn.org and click onchannel 67 to see it at the same time.

Sometimes MNN does screw up broadcasts, but usually they air things without too many problems.....Be patient if it screws up for a while.

Best,Jason Howard

AARON MOSS, 98, died 8:30 PM Sunday, Dec. 23, 2007, in hospice at Cabrini Hospital on 19th and 3d Ave following declining health. Born in Newark, he was a dentist and oral surgeon and leader in dental hypnotism writing a book on the subject and lecturing about it. He also recently authored a self-published book SELF ANALYSIS. He leaves his son Jerry, a NYC social worker. Aaron got a PhD in psychology in Spain and was a supporter of the Hemlock Society and an avid Marxist and activist traveling in recent years to Vieques, Puerto Rico to protest the shelling by US Navy, to Cuba and to Philadelphia to support Mumia Jamal. He'll be remembered for his loyalty, compassion, determination, idealism, generosity, objectivity, organizational skills and candor. He played the violin. He could be a fierce combatant in intellectual exchanges yet always tried to maintain the deeper harmony on a personal level. Locals may recall him in the 90's power walking on the sidewalk around the perimeter of Washington Square Park. In recent years he soldiered on heroically despite, as he said, spending 95% of his time just trying to stay alive with the help of medications and supplements, an Oxygen tank, visits to doctors and hospitals, and the help of a team of rotating live-in care givers.Best, Rick Hill

8 comments:

I really enjoy reading your blog, it always has great insight. But I am very frustrated with the fact that so few people are talking about presidential candidates and their thoughts on global warming. Now that it is down to just a few candidates I would think that this would be a bigger issue.

Live Earth just picked up this topic and put out an article ( http://www.liveearth.org/news.php ) live earth is also asking why the presidential candidates are not being solicited for their stance on the issue of the climate change. I just saw a poll on www.EarthLab.com that says people care a lot about what their next leader thinks of global warming. Does anyone know of another poll or other results about this subject?

Here is the page where I saw the EarthLab poll: http://www.earthlab.com/life.aspx. This is a pretty legit website; they are endorsed by Al Gore and the alliance for climate protection and they have a carbon footprint calculator. Does anyone have a strong opinion about this like I do? No matter what your political affiliation is or who you vote for this is an important issue for our environment, our economy and for homeland security.

I met Dr. Moss last year, after trying to find him for a while. He was a colleague of my grandfather, Dr. Jules Weinstein. They both were pioneers in the field of Hypnosis in Dentistry. Aaron and I e-mailed each other, spoke on the phone, and finally met in February, 2007. He was a great man, and I feel so fortunate to have met him.

I would very much like to be in touch with his son Jerry, if anyone knows a way to contact him- I would appreciate it.

I worked for Dr. Moss in the mid to late sixties in Basking Ridge, NJ. What a time to be around a man like him. I learned alot more than dentistry, let me tell you! Does anyone know what happened to Phil? He used to live with Aaron in those days. How is Jerry? We had a patient named Janis Fink, better known as Janis Ian. I have so many interesting things to relate if anyone is interested. He changed my life drastically! Thank you for all the info. I just wish I found this when he was still with us. Janet